How to create CSV Excel file C#?

I'm looking for a class for creating CSV Excel files.

Expected features:

• Extremely simple to use
• Escapes commas and quotes so excel handles them fine
• Exports date and datetimes in timezone-proof format

Do you know any class capable of this?

Slightly different version I wrote using reflection for my needs. I had to export a list of objects to csv. In case someone wants to use it for future.

public class CsvExport<T> where T: class
    {
        public List<T> Objects;

        public CsvExport(List<T> objects)
        {
            Objects = objects;
        }

        public string Export()
        {
            return Export(true);
        }

        public string Export(bool includeHeaderLine)
        {
            
            StringBuilder sb = new StringBuilder();
            //Get properties using reflection.
            IList<PropertyInfo> propertyInfos = typeof(T).GetProperties();

            if (includeHeaderLine)
            {
                //add header line.
                foreach (PropertyInfo propertyInfo in propertyInfos)
                {
                    sb.Append(propertyInfo.Name).Append(",");
                }
                sb.Remove(sb.Length - 1, 1).AppendLine();
            }

            //add value for each property.
            foreach (T obj in Objects)
            {               
                foreach (PropertyInfo propertyInfo in propertyInfos)
                {
                    sb.Append(MakeValueCsvFriendly(propertyInfo.GetValue(obj, null))).Append(",");
                }
                sb.Remove(sb.Length - 1, 1).AppendLine();
            }

            return sb.ToString();
        }

        //export to a file.
        public void ExportToFile(string path)
        {
            File.WriteAllText(path, Export());
        }

        //export as binary data.
        public byte[] ExportToBytes()
        {
            return Encoding.UTF8.GetBytes(Export());
        }

        //get the csv value for field.
        private string MakeValueCsvFriendly(object value)
        {
            if (value == null) return "";
            if (value is Nullable && ((INullable)value).IsNull) return "";

            if (value is DateTime)
            {
                if (((DateTime)value).TimeOfDay.TotalSeconds == 0)
                    return ((DateTime)value).ToString("yyyy-MM-dd");
                return ((DateTime)value).ToString("yyyy-MM-dd HH:mm:ss");
            }
            string output = value.ToString();

            if (output.Contains(",") || output.Contains("\""))
                output = '"' + output.Replace("\"", "\"\"") + '"';

            return output;

        }
    }

Usage sample : (updated per comment)

CsvExport<BusinessObject> csv= new CsvExport<BusinessObject>(GetBusinessObjectList());
Response.Write(csv.Export());

Please forgive me

But I think a public open-source repository is a better way to share code and make contributions, and corrections, and additions like "I fixed this, I fixed that"

So I made a simple git-repository out of the topic-starter's code and all the additions:

https://github.com/jitbit/CsvExport

I also added a couple of useful fixes myself. Everyone could add suggestions, fork it to contribute etc. etc. etc. Send me your forks so I merge them back into the repo.

PS. I posted all copyright notices for Chris. @Chris if you're against this idea - let me know, I'll kill it.

Another good solution to read and write CSV-files is filehelpers (open source).

How about using string.Join instead of all the foreach Loops?

If anyone would like I converted this to an extension method on IEnumerable:

public static class ListExtensions
{
    public static string ExportAsCSV<T>(this IEnumerable<T> listToExport, bool includeHeaderLine, string delimeter)
    {
        StringBuilder sb = new StringBuilder();
        
        IList<PropertyInfo> propertyInfos = typeof(T).GetProperties();

        if (includeHeaderLine)
        {
            foreach (PropertyInfo propertyInfo in propertyInfos)
            {
                sb.Append(propertyInfo.Name).Append(",");
            }
            sb.Remove(sb.Length - 1, 1).AppendLine();
        }

        foreach (T obj in listToExport)
        {
            T localObject = obj;
            
            var line = String.Join(delimeter, propertyInfos.Select(x => SanitizeValuesForCSV(x.GetValue(localObject, null), delimeter)));
            
            sb.AppendLine(line);
        }

        return sb.ToString();
    }

    private static string SanitizeValuesForCSV(object value, string delimeter)
    {
        string output;

        if (value == null) return "";

        if (value is DateTime)
        {
            output = ((DateTime)value).ToLongDateString();
        }
        else
        {
            output = value.ToString();                
        }

        if (output.Contains(delimeter) || output.Contains("\""))
            output = '"' + output.Replace("\"", "\"\"") + '"';

        output = output.Replace("\n", " ");
        output = output.Replace("\r", "");

        return output;
    }
}

great work on this class. Simple and easy to use. I modified the class to include a title in the first row of the export; figured I would share:

use:

CsvExport myExport = new CsvExport();
myExport.addTitle = String.Format("Name: {0},{1}", lastName, firstName));

class:

public class CsvExport
{
    List<string> fields = new List<string>();

    public string addTitle { get; set; } // string for the first row of the export

    List<Dictionary<string, object>> rows = new List<Dictionary<string, object>>();
    Dictionary<string, object> currentRow
    {
        get
        {
            return rows[rows.Count - 1];
        }
    }

    public object this[string field]
    {
        set
        {
            if (!fields.Contains(field)) fields.Add(field);
            currentRow[field] = value;
        }
    }

    public void AddRow()
    {
        rows.Add(new Dictionary<string, object>());
    }

    string MakeValueCsvFriendly(object value)
    {
        if (value == null) return "";
        if (value is Nullable && ((INullable)value).IsNull) return "";
        if (value is DateTime)
        {
            if (((DateTime)value).TimeOfDay.TotalSeconds == 0)
                return ((DateTime)value).ToString("yyyy-MM-dd");
            return ((DateTime)value).ToString("yyyy-MM-dd HH:mm:ss");
        }
        string output = value.ToString();
        if (output.Contains(",") || output.Contains("\""))
            output = '"' + output.Replace("\"", "\"\"") + '"';
        return output;

    }

    public string Export()
    {
        StringBuilder sb = new StringBuilder();

        // if there is a title
        if (!string.IsNullOrEmpty(addTitle))
        {
            // escape chars that would otherwise break the row / export
            char[] csvTokens = new[] { '\"', ',', '\n', '\r' };

            if (addTitle.IndexOfAny(csvTokens) >= 0)
            {
                addTitle = "\"" + addTitle.Replace("\"", "\"\"") + "\"";
            }
            sb.Append(addTitle).Append(",");
            sb.AppendLine();
        }


        // The header
        foreach (string field in fields)
        sb.Append(field).Append(",");
        sb.AppendLine();

        // The rows
        foreach (Dictionary<string, object> row in rows)
        {
            foreach (string field in fields)
                sb.Append(MakeValueCsvFriendly(row[field])).Append(",");
            sb.AppendLine();
        }

        return sb.ToString();
    }

    public void ExportToFile(string path)
    {
        File.WriteAllText(path, Export());
    }

    public byte[] ExportToBytes()
    {
        return Encoding.UTF8.GetBytes(Export());
    }
}

there's an open-source library for CSV which you can get using nuget: http://joshclose.github.io/CsvHelper/

I added ExportToStream so the csv didn't have to save to the hard drive first.

public Stream ExportToStream()
{
	MemoryStream stream = new MemoryStream();
	StreamWriter writer = new StreamWriter(stream);
	writer.Write(Export(true));
	writer.Flush();
	stream.Position = 0;
	return stream;
}

I've added

public void ExportToFile(string path, DataTable tabela)
{

     DataColumnCollection colunas = tabela.Columns;

     foreach (DataRow linha in tabela.Rows)
     {

           this.AddRow();

           foreach (DataColumn coluna in colunas)

           {

               this[coluna.ColumnName] = linha[coluna];

           }

      }
      this.ExportToFile(path);

}

Previous code does not work with old .NET versions. For 3.5 version of framework use this other version:

        public void ExportToFile(string path)
    {
        bool abort = false;
        bool exists = false;
        do
        {
            exists = File.Exists(path);
            if (!exists)
            {
                if( !Convert.ToBoolean( File.CreateText(path) ) )
                        abort = true;
            }
        } while (!exists || abort);

        if (!abort)
        {
            //File.OpenWrite(path);
            using (StreamWriter w = File.AppendText(path))
            {
                w.WriteLine("hello");
            }

        }

        //File.WriteAllText(path, Export());
    }

Thanks a lot for that! I modified the class to:

• use a variable delimiter, instead of hardcoded in code
• replacing all newLines (\n \r \n\r) in MakeValueCsvFriendly

Code:

using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Linq;
using System.Data.SqlTypes;
using System.IO;
using System.Text;
using System.Text.RegularExpressions;
 
    public class CsvExport
    {

        public char delim = ';';
        /// <summary>
        /// To keep the ordered list of column names
        /// </summary>
        List<string> fields = new List<string>();

        /// <summary>
        /// The list of rows
        /// </summary>
        List<Dictionary<string, object>> rows = new List<Dictionary<string, object>>();

        /// <summary>
        /// The current row
        /// </summary>
        Dictionary<string, object> currentRow { get { return rows[rows.Count - 1]; } }

        /// <summary>
        /// Set a value on this column
        /// </summary>
        public object this[string field]
        {
            set
            {
                // Keep track of the field names, because the dictionary loses the ordering
                if (!fields.Contains(field)) fields.Add(field);
                currentRow[field] = value;
            }
        }

        /// <summary>
        /// Call this before setting any fields on a row
        /// </summary>
        public void AddRow()
        {
            rows.Add(new Dictionary<string, object>());
        }

        /// <summary>
        /// Converts a value to how it should output in a csv file
        /// If it has a comma, it needs surrounding with double quotes
        /// Eg Sydney, Australia -> "Sydney, Australia"
        /// Also if it contains any double quotes ("), then they need to be replaced with quad quotes[sic] ("")
        /// Eg "Dangerous Dan" McGrew -> """Dangerous Dan"" McGrew"
        /// </summary>
        string MakeValueCsvFriendly(object value)
        {
            if (value == null) return "";
            if (value is INullable && ((INullable)value).IsNull) return "";
            if (value is DateTime)
            {
                if (((DateTime)value).TimeOfDay.TotalSeconds == 0)
                    return ((DateTime)value).ToString("yyyy-MM-dd");
                return ((DateTime)value).ToString("yyyy-MM-dd HH:mm:ss");
            }
            string output = value.ToString();
            if (output.Contains(delim) || output.Contains("\""))
                output = '"' + output.Replace("\"", "\"\"") + '"';
            if (Regex.IsMatch(output,  @"(?:\r\n|\n|\r)"))
                output = string.Join(" ", Regex.Split(output, @"(?:\r\n|\n|\r)"));
            return output;
        }

        /// <summary>
        /// Output all rows as a CSV returning a string
        /// </summary>
        public string Export()
        {
            StringBuilder sb = new StringBuilder();

            // The header
            foreach (string field in fields)
                sb.Append(field).Append(delim);
            sb.AppendLine();

            // The rows
            foreach (Dictionary<string, object> row in rows)
            {
                foreach (string field in fields)
                    sb.Append(MakeValueCsvFriendly(row[field])).Append(delim);
                sb.AppendLine();
            }

            return sb.ToString();
        }

        /// <summary>
        /// Exports to a file
        /// </summary>
        public void ExportToFile(string path)
        {
            File.WriteAllText(path, Export());
        }

        /// <summary>
        /// Exports as raw UTF8 bytes
        /// </summary>
        public byte[] ExportToBytes()
        {
            return Encoding.UTF8.GetBytes(Export());
            
        }

    }

You can also use ADO to do this: http://weblogs.asp.net/fmarguerie/archive/2003/10/01/29964.aspx

The original class have a problem, and that is if you want to add a new column, you will receive KeyNotFoundException on Export method. For example:

static void Main(string[] args)
{
    var export = new CsvExport();

	export.AddRow();
	export["Region"] = "New York, USA";
	export["Sales"] = 100000;
	export["Date Opened"] = new DateTime(2003, 12, 31);
   
	export.AddRow();
	export["Region"] = "Sydney \"in\" Australia";
	export["Sales"] = 50000;
	export["Date Opened"] = new DateTime(2005, 1, 1, 9, 30, 0);
	export["Balance"] = 3.45f;  //Exception is throwed for this new column
    
	export.ExportToFile("Somefile.csv");
}

To solve this, and using the @KeyboardCowboy idea of ​​using reflection, I modified the code to allow add rows that do not have the same columns. You can use instances of anonymous classes. For example:

static void Main(string[] args)
{
    var export = new CsvExporter();
	
	export.AddRow(new {A = 12, B = "Empty"});
	export.AddRow(new {A = 34.5f, D = false});
            
    export.ExportToFile("File.csv");
}

You can download the source code here CsvExporter. Feel free to use and modify.

Now, if all rows you want to write are of the same class, I created the generic class CsvWriter.cs, which has a better performance RAM usage and ideal for writing large files.Plus it lets you add formatters to the data type you want. An example of use:

class Program
{
    static void Main(string[] args)
    {
        var writer = new CsvWriter<Person>("Persons.csv");

        writer.AddFormatter<DateTime>(d => d.ToString("MM/dd/yyyy"));

        writer.WriteHeaders();
        writer.WriteRows(GetPersons());
		
		writer.Flush();
		writer.Close();
    }

    private static IEnumerable<Person> GetPersons()
	{
		yield return new Person
			{
                FirstName = "Jhon", 
                LastName = "Doe", 
                Sex = 'M'
            };
			
        yield return new Person
            {
                FirstName = "Jhane", 
                LastName = "Doe",
                Sex = 'F',
                BirthDate = DateTime.Now
            };
        }
    }


    class Person
    {
        public string FirstName { get; set; }

        public string LastName { get; set; }

        public char Sex  { get; set; }

        public DateTime BirthDate { get; set; }
    }

You need only 1 function to do this. Only you have to do is to make a folder in your solution explorer and store the csv file there and then export that file to the user.

As in my case I have a folder downloads. First I export all my content to that directory and then exporting it to the user. For response.end handling, I used the ThreadAbortException. So it is a 100% genuine and working function in my solution.

protected void lnkExport_OnClick(object sender, EventArgs e)
{

    string filename = strFileName = "Export.csv";

    DataTable dt = obj.GetData();  

// call the content and load it into the datatable

    strFileName = Server.MapPath("Downloads") + "\\" + strFileName;

// creating a file in the downloads folder in your solution explorer

    TextWriter tw = new StreamWriter(strFileName);

// using the built in class textwriter for writing your content in the exporting file

    string strData = "Username,Password,City";

// above line is the header for your exported file. So add headings for your coloumns in excel(.csv) file and seperate them with ","

    strData += Environment.NewLine;

// setting the environment to the new line

    foreach (DataRow dr in dt.Rows)
    {
       strData += dr["Username"].ToString() + "," + dr["Password"].ToString() + "," +      dr["City"].ToString();
       strData += Environment.NewLine;
    }

// everytime when loop execute, it adds a line into the file
    tw.Write(strData);

// writing the contents in file
    tw.Close();

// closing the file
    Response.Redirect("Downloads/" + filename);

// exporting the file to the user as a popup to save as....
}